


The Secret Keeper

by webofdreams89



Category: The Haunting of Hill House (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canonical Character Death, Ghosts, Implied/Referenced Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 06:16:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28466679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/webofdreams89/pseuds/webofdreams89
Summary: It is exhausting to be the one who knows so much but can say so little.
Relationships: Theodora "Theo" Crain/Trish Park
Comments: 1
Kudos: 22
Collections: Holiday Horror 2020





	The Secret Keeper

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FictionPenned](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FictionPenned/gifts).



> This story is written as part of the Holiday Horror. I hope you really enjoy it, FictionPenned!
> 
> A tiny bit of story set up: this takes place in a universe in which the Cranes never lived at Hill House, though Theo still has her powers.

Theo’s hands can tell a story. She can lightly run them across a door and see everything that door has seen since it became lumber. She can open a book, skim the corners of the pages, and see the engrossed faces of everyone who has ever read it.

Theo wears gloves because she is scared of what she sees, scared of the way she knows how much Luke has struggled to get sober or how Shirley locks herself in the closet and allows herself to break down, hidden away from others. Sometimes her gloves aren’t strong enough and she catches a glimpse even through the fabric. Sometimes her elbow grazes a surface and blows up her mind with elation and anxiety and past heartaches.

It is a mighty power, a heavy burden to bear. She feels the weight of it pressing down on her shoulders during the still of night when her mind races through everything she’s seen throughout the day. She carries so many secrets, knows things she should never know. 

It is exhausting to be the one who knows so much but can say so little.

*

She meets Trish on a Sunday at a funeral of all places. Trish is there to see her grandmother one final time while Theo is helping Shirley out at her funeral home.

Theo has always hated the funeral home, not that she’d ever tell Shirley that. It reminds her too much of her mother’s funeral when she was a kid. Back then, Theo had taken her glove off to touch her mom’s hand just one more time and saw just how much pain she’d been in before she took her own life. That feeling, it’s stayed with Theo ever since.

She gives Theo a kind, sad smile when she passes Theo standing by the doors to greet the guests. The jolt Theo feels at the simple look is a shock and she has to grab the doorframe to steady herself. After that, Theo watches her, keeping the woman in the corner of her eye as the service goes on. It’s been years since Theo felt such a connection to someone. Maybe she never has.

When it’s all over, the woman walks up to Theo. She’s even lovelier up close. “Hi,” she says, making Theo’s heart pound in her chest. How can one word cause such a reaction?

“Hi,” Theo says softly. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you,” she says. “My grandmother lived a long, happy life. I’ll miss her though.”

“I understand,” Theo says, her voice thick with emotion.

The woman looks critically at Theo for a moment. “Yes, I can see you do.” She appears to shake her thoughts away. “Anyway, I’m Trish. Something told me I should come over here and introduce myself.”

Theo clears her throat. “I’m Theo, and I’m glad you did. You seem like someone worth knowing, Trish.”

The smile Trish gives her is beautiful and Theo can feel it all the way down to her toes.

*

They go on their first date four days later, meeting up at a small coffee shop located about halfway between both their apartments. When Trish sits down across the table from Theo, their knees softly bumping, Theo feels like she already knows her. They’ve spent the last four days texting each other and Theo now knows about how Trish fell off her bike at eight and broke her arm so badly she needed surgery. She knows that Trish got her first tattoo after a friend died in college, and she knows about the first girl that ever broke her heart. And she knows all of it without having to use her power. It’s exhilarating.

In return, she tells Trish about her mom, about her dad losing custody of Theo and her siblings, and growing up with her aunt.

They stay at the coffee shop until the barista asks them to leave because they’re closing. Theo is hopped up on caffeine and so happy. That night, after walking her to her front door, Theo kisses her and it feels like the beginning of something important.

*

The next weeks and months are full of Trish; waking up next to Trish in the morning and Trish picking her up from work to grab lunch together. Trish making her coffee in the morning and giving Theo that smile of hers. It’s the happiest Theo can ever remember feeling in her life.

Of course, that’s when everything goes to shit.

*

Trish’s eyes drift to Theo’s gloves several times a day. It’s like she can’t help but look at them. Theo can’t blame her. She knows it’s weird. The reason she wears them is  _ weird. _

“I don’t care about scars, Theo,” she says one day while they’re watching movies on Trish’s couch. She isn’t referring to literal scars.

Maybe Trish doesn’t, but Theo just isn’t ready to share hers yet. Someday.

*

Nell dies on a Thursday. Car accident. No one was at fault, just icy roads and a telephone pole. 

Theo is a mess until the day of the funeral when she packs the hurt away and slides her mask into place. She’s so grateful that Trish is there to hold her hand, rubbing soothing circles into her skin. It helps anchor Theo so she can hold it together for her siblings, especially Luke.

It happens for the first time the night of the funeral. Theo goes back to her apartment alone, needing some time to herself, when she sees her. Nell. 

She’s standing by Theo’s desk, her hand resting atop a stack of mail. Theo’s breath freezes in her chest as she takes in the translucent quality of her sister, of the way her eyes seem to bore into Theo in a way they never did in life.

When Theo figures out how to breathe again, she turns around, grabs her car keys, and leaves. 

Trish doesn’t look surprised when Theo shows up, claiming she doesn’t want to be alone. In truth, she doesn’t want to be alone with her dead sister.

*

Theo is eleven the first time she sees a ghost. She was staying the night at her best friend Claire’s house when her dad walked into Claire’s room. The only problem was that Claire’s dad passed away from cancer two months prior.

Theo screamed, pretending she had a nightmare about her mother, and called her aunt to pick her up. There was no way she could stay there after seeing a dead man. And there was no way she could tell Claire what she saw.

Their friendship ended after Theo declined all invitations to stay over.

*

A week later, Theo sees Nell again. Two days later, she sees her sister a third time. She keeps seeing her again and again and again.

Her relationship with Trish becomes strained because Theo can’t tell her the truth, can’t tell her that she’s seeing her dead sister whenever she comes home from work or opens her eyes in the morning.

After a pretty stilted date, Theo follows Trish out to the car. She sits passively as Trish takes her hand. “You don’t have to tell me everything right now,” Trish begins, “but I know you’re holding something back and it’s impacting our relationship.”

Trish is so sweet, so kind that the truth spills from Theo. How she can read things through touch alone and about Claire’s dad and Nellie and the other ghosts she’s seen over the years. 

Theo expects Trish to run for the hills, but she doesn’t. Instead, she gently squeezes Theo’s hand. 

“Can you show me?” she asks.

Nodding, Theo pulls her gloves off and touches the pretty bracelet on Trish’s wrist. “Your dad gave this to you for Christmas. It once belonged to his mother. She wore it at her wedding.”

Trish gasps. Theo knew her mother passed away a few years ago and meant a lot to her, but Trish never shared this particular story before. 

“I never told you that,” Trish says, her voice awed.

“No, you haven’t,” Theo agrees. “I touch your bracelet and just  _ know. _ ”

Trish gulps, taking a few moments to calm herself. She looks thoughtful and turns her attention back to Theo. “Your talent lets you read the past. Ghosts are images of the past. Maybe there’s something your sister wants you to know.”

Theo feels cold. “Do you really think that could be it? That Nellie is trying to tell me something?”

Trish reaches out, her hand cupping Theo’s cheek. “I don’t see why not. Why don’t we find out, okay?”

With tears blurring her eyes, Theo nods. “Okay.”

*

They sit in the car outside of Theo’s apartment above Shirley’s garage. Theo’s hands shake until Trish wraps her hands around them, her fingers calloused from years of holding paint knives and sculpting tools and soldering irons. It’s soothing.

“Okay, I’m ready,” she finally says, opening her car door before she loses her courage to face the ghost of her sister.

Trish holds her hand as they walk up the stairs to the apartment. She holds her hand as Theo unlocks the door and holds her hand as they walk into the apartment. Sure enough, there’s Nell, standing by Theo’s desk.

“Oh, wow,” Trish murmurs. Theo looks over at her. Trish’s eyes are wide. She can see Nellie too. “That’s her. That’s Nell.”

“Yeah, it is,” Theo says. She takes a deep breath and walks toward her sister.

“Hi Nellie,” Theo says when she stops in front of her sister. “I’m sorry I keep running from you. I was scared.”

A smile spreads across Nell’s gray, translucent face. They stare at each other for a moment before Nellie reaches around Theo to touch the mail stacked on her desk. 

“There’s something important in there?” Theo asks. Nell nods.

Theo grabs the stack of mail and begins flipping through it. Most of it is just junk, though there are a few sympathy cards. When she reaches an envelope from Arthur, Nell’s boyfriend, she pauses.

“Is it Arthur?” she asks. 

Again, Nell nods.

Theo opens the envelope and pulls out the card. Tucked inside the card is a letter. Theo feels a pang at the fact she hasn’t reached out to Arthur since the funeral. She reads through the letter until something jumps out at her.

_ I loved your sister so much. _

Theo knows. She knows why Nell came back. 

“You never got the chance to tell him how you felt,” she says. 

Nell nods and smiles.

*

Theo gets coffee with Arthur a few days later. When he sees her walk into the coffee shop, Arthur stands and gives her a hug. She returns it, surprised to find how comforted she feels by him.

“I’m glad you called,” he says, fiddling with his paper coffee cup. “Just because Nell is...is gone doesn’t mean I want to lose touch with you or your family.”

Reaching across the table, Theo grasps his hand in hers. “Neither do I. Nell  _ really _ loved you. You’re family.”

Arthur’s breath catches and the smile he gives her is watery, but it is there.

*

When Theo gets home that afternoon, Nell is waiting for her. This time, Theo isn’t scared. She walks up to her sister and smiles.

“I saw Arthur today,” she says. “We had a good conversation. I told how much you loved him.”

Nell smiles. She reaches up to touch Theo’s cheek and Theo swears she can feel a faint cold sensation. Then Nell steps back and fades from view.

At first, Theo feels gutted knowing that her sister is gone for good. She just hopes that wherever Nell is now, it’s somewhere good.

Trish finds Theo sitting on the couch an hour later, a hot mug of tea in her hand. She joins her on the couch and grabs Theo’s free hand. 

“How did it go?” she asks.

“It’s over,” Theo replies. She tells her how she relayed Nell’s message to Arthur and how Nell smiled at her before, presumably, moving on. “I think that I can move on now too.”

And she does.


End file.
